Glance at the summary firstThe summary from the end of the lesson, as a road map before you start reading.
In wildlife, four hundred millimeters and beyond is the way to fill the frame with the animal without approaching it; large prime lenses give light and sharpness, super-telephoto zooms lightness and price, and a teleconverter, while it gains length, takes light and sometimes focusing speed. A long lens is held steady with a short shutter speed, a monopod, a tripod or a bag; the budget is managed with renting, secondhand and a zoom, and a distant person's skin is metered from their face, keeping in mind the air in between and leaf shade.
Learning goal
You will be able to explain why wildlife so often needs a focal length of four hundred millimeters or more, and how this relates to a respectful distance from the animal. You will choose between large prime lenses, super-telephoto zoom lenses and teleconverters in terms of weight, maximum aperture and budget, and take into account a body whose small sensor narrows the angle of view. You will know how to hold a long lens steady in the hand, on a monopod, on a tripod or on a bag, and which shutter speed it needs. You will plan how to manage the budget by starting with renting, with secondhand and with a super-telephoto zoom. You will take into account how the skin of a person photographed from afar with a long lens changes under the effect of the air in between and leaf shadow.
The question
At the club, a member puts a white-bodied lens as long as their arm on the table. Your friend tries to lift it; the weight, over two kilos, tires their arm at once. Hearing the price, they are surprised. Yet this is exactly what they had wanted most while shooting the heron from afar: to see the bird large without approaching it. On the same table there is also a lighter, cheaper zoom that lets in less light, and a small ring that fits between the lens and the body. Which one should they start with? What does working at 400mm and beyond change for them?
Context
In the lens choice lesson you saw trying a lens by renting it before buying, and examining the glass, the rings and the working of a used lens before buying it (Lesson 12.10). You know from the sensor sizes lesson that a small sensor narrows the image compared with full frame and that this is expressed with a factor (Lesson 3.3). In the stabilization lesson you also calculated that the longest time you can shoot handheld without shake gets shorter as the focal length grows (Lesson 10.8).
In the previous lesson you saw that keeping your distance for the animal's peace is the first rule. A long lens is the tool that closes this distance in the photo: instead of going to the bird, it brings the bird to you. But this tool has a price: weight, light loss, vibration and cost. This lesson takes up how to balance these prices and where to start with your first long lens.
Simple explanation
Why so long?
A bird is small and shy. When you photograph a bird the size of a sparrow from outside its flight distance, for example from twenty meters, with a two-hundred-millimeter lens the bird stays a small dot in the frame. Four hundred millimeters makes it twice as large, six hundred millimeters three times. That is why for birds and small mammals four hundred millimeters is often counted as the starting point. A body with a small sensor also narrows the angle of view: on a body with a crop factor of one and a half, a four-hundred-millimeter lens gives the angle of view of six hundred millimeters on full frame.
There are two main kinds of long lenses. Large prime lenses, for example a six-hundred-millimeter lens with a wide maximum aperture, let in a lot of light and are very sharp, but can exceed three kilos and their price often approaches that of a car. A super-telephoto zoom is a zoom lens covering a long range, roughly between one hundred and six hundred millimeters, lighter and much cheaper; at its long end it often lets in less light, such as f/5.6 or f/6.3. Many nature photographers start with a super-telephoto zoom as their first long lens.
What does a teleconverter give, and what does it take?
A teleconverter is a small optical ring that fits between the lens and the body and extends the focal length by a factor. A 1.4x teleconverter takes four hundred millimeters to five hundred and sixty millimeters, a two-times teleconverter to eight hundred millimeters. The price of this is light: a 1.4x teleconverter loses one stop of light, a two-times teleconverter two stops. An f/5.6 lens becomes f/8 with a 1.4x teleconverter, and f/11 with a two-times one.
As the light falls, autofocus slows down, and on some bodies it may not work at all beyond a certain aperture; sharpness can also drop somewhat. A teleconverter gives the best result with prime lenses with a wide maximum aperture. When it is fitted to the end of a super-telephoto zoom whose maximum aperture is already narrow, the length gained is often not worth it against the light and sharpness lost. Which lens is compatible with which teleconverter varies from manufacturer to manufacturer; you need to check compatibility before buying.
How is it held steady, and where do you start?
A long lens magnifies every vibration. To shoot handheld, keeping the shutter speed roughly as short as one over the equivalent focal length, for example using 1/600 or shorter at six hundred millimeters, is a good start; image stabilization makes longer times possible with a still animal but doesn't freeze a moving one. A monopod is a light, one-legged support; it carries the weight, keeps freedom of movement and is more practical than a tripod on birdwatching walks. On a tripod, large lenses work comfortably with special heads that attach at the lens's center of gravity and swing in balance. A filled bag placed on a car's open window or on top of a rock is also a cheap and solid support.
An order can be set up for the budget: first try by renting, then start with a secondhand super-telephoto zoom, and if needed later move to a prime lens. When you photograph a distant person with a long lens, for example a birdwatcher or a shepherd, the long path of air in between lowers contrast and cools the color. On dark skin standing under leaves, in dappled shade, detail is quickly lost; light skin, on the other hand, can blow out in the sunny patches. Taking the metering from the face and looking for an angle that takes the person out of the leaf dapples shows them in their real tone even from afar.
Visual evidence
Your friend rents a super-telephoto zoom for a weekend. The lens is close to two kilos; in the first half hour their arm gets tired. They also take a monopod from the rental place and rest it on their shoulder while walking.
On the lakeshore, they photograph a coot from twenty meters. At two hundred millimeters the bird is a dot, at six hundred millimeters it fills the frame. Handheld at 1/250 the frame is soft; when they go up to 1/1000 and a higher ISO, the feathers can be picked out. They try the club member's 1.4x teleconverter: the autofocus keeps hunting, the frame a little hazy. They take it off.
On the shore, a birdwatcher counting birds with her binoculars, a dark-skinned woman, stands in the shade of a tree. Asking her permission, they photograph her at six hundred millimeters. In the first frame her face is blotched with leaf dapples and dark; they slide a step to the side to bring her into even shade, and set the exposure for her face. Her skin is in its own warm brown, the lake behind a soft background.
Common mistakes
Common mistakeGoing for the heaviest and most expensive prime lens as your first long lens.
The weight tires you, the budget runs out. The fix: rent first, then start with a super-telephoto zoom.
Common mistakeFitting a two-times teleconverter to a zoom with a narrow maximum aperture.
Autofocus struggles and sharpness drops. The fix: use the teleconverter with lenses with a wide maximum aperture.
Common mistakeShooting handheld at six hundred millimeters with a long shutter speed.
Vibration softens the frame. The fix: shorten the shutter speed, raise the ISO or use a monopod.
Summary
In wildlife, four hundred millimeters and beyond is the way to fill the frame with the animal without approaching it; large prime lenses give light and sharpness, super-telephoto zooms lightness and price, and a teleconverter, while it gains length, takes light and sometimes focusing speed. A long lens is held steady with a short shutter speed, a monopod, a tripod or a bag; the budget is managed with renting, secondhand and a zoom, and a distant person's skin is metered from their face, keeping in mind the air in between and leaf shade.
Mini assignment
In this assignment you will make your first outing with a long lens.
- With the longest lens you have or a super-telephoto zoom you rented, photograph a bird or an animal from afar and without disturbing it, at different focal lengths.
- Shoot the same frame handheld at three different shutter speeds, then on a monopod or on top of a bag; enlarge and look at which one picks out the feathers.
- Photograph a distant person with their permission; look at how their face appears in dappled shade or in even shade, and set the exposure for their skin.
Check yourself
- At which focal length did the animal fill the frame enough?
- After which shutter speed did the frames become sharp?
- Does the face photographed from afar look detailed and in its own color?
Glossary
| Term | Short definition |
|---|---|
| Super-telephoto zoom | A zoom lens covering a long range, roughly between one hundred and six hundred millimeters, lighter and cheaper than large prime lenses. |
| Teleconverter | An optical ring fitted between the lens and the body that extends the focal length by a factor, losing light in return. |
| Monopod | A light, one-legged support that carries the weight of a long lens and keeps freedom of movement. |
Mini quiz
1. On a body with a crop factor of one and a half, what angle of view does a four-hundred-millimeter lens give?
- A) Two hundred millimeters on full frame
- B) Four hundred millimeters on full frame
- C) Six hundred millimeters on full frame
- D) Eight hundred millimeters on full frame
2. How much light does a 1.4x teleconverter lose?
- A) One stop
- B) None
- C) Three stops
- D) Half a stop
3. Shooting handheld at six hundred millimeters, which shutter speed suits a start?
- A) 1/30
- B) 1/60
- C) 1/125
- D) 1/600 or shorter
4. If a distant person's face is blotched with leaf dapples, what can be done?
- A) Fit a longer teleconverter
- B) Slide a step to the side to bring them into even shade and set the exposure for their face
- C) Set the exposure for the sky
- D) Nothing, the dapples always stay
Answers
- C — Four hundred millimeters multiplied by a crop factor of one and a half gives the angle of view of six hundred millimeters.
- A — A 1.4x teleconverter cuts about half the light, which is one stop.
- D — As the equivalent focal length grows, vibration grows and the safe time gets shorter.
- B — Even shade lights the face evenly, and setting the exposure for the skin keeps the detail.
Summary card
- Four hundred millimeters and beyond: filling the frame without approaching.
- A large prime gives light, a super-telephoto zoom lightness and price.
- A teleconverter gains length, takes light and focusing speed.
- Short shutter speed, monopod, tripod or bag.
- Rent, try secondhand; expose the distant face in even shade and for its skin.
Bridge to the next lesson
Your friend goes to the lakeshore with the rented lens at noon. They wait for hours, the reeds are silent, not a single bird appears. In the evening at the club someone asks with a smile: if you had gone in the first hour of the morning the shore would have been full of birds, didn't you know when they feed? Why does a good photo start with biology? The next lesson takes up how learning an animal's behavior, its feeding and resting hours, builds the photo in advance.